The Fentons Creamery's Valentines Day pre-fixe menu includes its signature sundaes like the Black and Tan.

Photograph by George Sakkestad
Willow Glen Creamery employeeâ€™s Kasayla Jones and Tim Lamour hold up a few of their ice cream and yogurt creations. Both were hired in the past year.

Photograph by George Sakkestad
Willow Glen Creamery employeeâ€™s Kasayla Jones and Tim Lamour work the front counter. Both were hired in the past year.

Humphry Slocombe, the far-out-popular ice-cream company with
strange-sounding names, just opened a "parlor" in a shipping container in
Oakland. (Courtesy Humphry Slocombe)

In honor of the pre-Broadway engagement of "Head Over Heels," the new
musical comedy featuring the music of The Go-Go's, Humphry Slocombe will be
scooping a limited-edition "We Got the Beet" ice cream beginning April 1.
(Photo: Courtesy of Humphry Slocombe)

Pleasanton's Meadowlark is a drive-through dairy dating back to the early
1900s. They serve vanilla and chocolate soft serve as well as seasonal
flavors as well as more than 20 flavors in to-go quarts. (Photo: Meadowlark)

Since 2005, Three Twins has been a proponent of organic ingredients and is
still scooping it up in Larkspur and Berkeley. (Photo courtesy of Three
Twins)

Salt & Straw's Gingerbread Cookie Dough ice cream features cookie butter
made from molasses cookies that is swirled into rum royal icing ice cream.
It is available Nov. 24-Dec. 28 (Salt & Straw).

Milkcow's Tony Lai adds pistachio crumbs to the Santorini at the Milkcow Cafe in Fremont. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

A variety of soft ice creams are available at the Milkcow Cafe in Fremont, Calif., on Wednesday, May 17, 2017. The popular South Korean franchise serves organic soft ice cream with all sorts of crazy toppings. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Tony Lai adds soft ice cream while making the Santorini at the Milkcow Cafe in Fremont, Calif., on Wednesday, May 17, 2017. The popular South Korean franchise serves organic soft ice cream with all sorts of crazy toppings. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Soft serve ice cream topped with egg puffs is one of the items on the menu at the Milkcow Cafe in Fremont. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Uji Time's famed fish-shaped cones, called taiyaki, are a take on the
traditional Japanese dessert in the shape of a fish. (Photo: Uji Time)

A gelato lover nominated Lush for its fresh, local ingredients, including
nectarines from Cipponeri Farm for its nectarine ginger sorbet. (Photo
courtesy of Lush Gelato)

Coletta is among the San Francisco scoop shops nominated for our first Best
Ice Cream in the Bay Area bracket. Pictured here, Italian owners Antonio
Massimini and Henri Waltenspuhl scoop us some fun. (Photo courtesy of
Coletta)

The line for ice cream is out the door and down the street at the Penny Ice Creamery in downtown Santa Cruz on Thursday afternoon. The company with 120 employees is the Small Business of the Year in Bill Monning's State Senate district. (Dan Coyro -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)

The combo of the moment at Santa Cruz's beloved Penny Ice Creamery is a
cone of the dark chocolate sorbet with torched marshmallow fluff. (Courtesy
of Penny Ice Creamery)

Tin Pot Creamery now has shops in four cities on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. (Photo courtesy of Tin Pot Creamery)

(photo Jacqueline Ramseyer/Bay Area News Group/July 27, 2016
Nathan Tsang creates an ice cream treat for a customer at Icicles.
Icicles, a custom ice cream shop, recently opened on Lincoln Avenue in San Jose. The line for ice cream was around the store at 10pm on a warm Wednesday night.

A vanilla with milk chocolate and rainbow sprinkles ice cream taco is served at Rocko's Ice Cream Tacos at the 7th annual Taco Festival of Innovation, at History Park in San Jose, California on Saturday, May 26, 2018. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)

Milkbomb Ice Cream in San Francisco's Potrero Hill often sells out of its
ice cream doughnut sandwiches. In summer months, the wait in line can be up
to 45 minutes. (Photo: Scott Trude Fagley)

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There’s no question the Bay Area ice cream scene boasts a dedicated following. But which creamery takes the top scoop? Two weeks ago, we asked readers to help us choose the region’s top ice cream, bracket-style. And you delivered, narrowing down our reader-nominated 32 selections, first to the Sweet 16 and now the Elite Eight.

One clear trend has emerged in this bracket. Bay Area ice cream devotees appear to prefer classic creameries over upscale scoop shops and gelaterias. And there’s a strong South Bay and San Francisco contingency.

San Jose’s locally-loved Willow Glen Creamery beat out San Francisco’s widely-known Salt & Straw, with 65 percent of the votes. In a stunning upset, Meadlowlark Dairy, one of the Bay Area’s oldest dairies, bested Lush Gelato by a mere three votes. Another close call: Humphry Slocombe, that bastion of local-organic-gourmet, triumphed over Milkcow, 52 percent to 48 percent.

And, finally, Fentons in Oakland won against Tucker’s in Alameda, 75 percent-25 percent.

So, what now? Cast your votes, ice cream fans! Weigh in on the brackets below from now until 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 13. Be sure to use Firefox or Safari as your browser — Chrome is being problematic — and be sure to click the “done” button when you’re finished to submit your votes. We’ll unveil the Final Four on Friday.

Jessica Yadegaran is a writer and editor for the Bay Area News Group's Eat Drink Play section, which is devoted to all things food, wine, cocktails, and travel. She also spent two years in the Pacific Northwest as the food and dining editor for Seattle magazine. Yadegaran has a degree in journalism from San Diego State University and has been with the Bay Area News Group for more than 10 years.